Next we stopped at Patuxent River State Park, which was really pretty, but wasn’t suitable for our needs.<\/p>\n After that we went to Patapsco Valley State Park. The traffic was awful getting there, but we got some beautiful views of old railroads and some pretty rock formations. Again, though beautiful, we didn’t find large enough populations of species on our target list.<\/p>\n We ended our first day at North Point State Park, where we found good populations of\u00a0Prunus serotina<\/em> and\u00a0Cornus amomum<\/em>, though we saw Phragmites australis<\/i> growing everywhere, including\u00a0in the woods<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The next morning we started off at Gunpowder Falls State Park where we noted a nice population of\u00a0Carex vulpinoidea<\/em>. Here is a photo of the very first\u00a0Adiantum pedatum<\/em> population I’ve ever seen in the wild!<\/p>\n Next we stopped at Rocks State Park where we saw, once again, a really nice population of\u00a0Kalmia latifolia<\/em> as well as some\u00a0Rhododendron viscosum\u00a0<\/em>var.\u00a0viscosum<\/em> which is the first population we’ve seen large enough to make an SOS collection from!<\/p>\n Following that we went to Susquehanna State Park where we found a population that may be large enough to collect from, of\u00a0Asimina triloba<\/em>, which would be a fun collection to clean, as the Paw Paw is our continent’s largest fruit, and also one of my favorites. Here is a photo of some water fowl around one of their ponds.<\/p>\n Our last stop on day 2 was Elk Neck State Park, which was a really great spot. We saw tons of\u00a0Kalmia latifolia<\/em>,\u00a0Pontederia cordata<\/em>,\u00a0Gaylussacia frondosa<\/em>,\u00a0Asimina triloba<\/em>,\u00a0Teucrium canadense<\/em>,\u00a0Prunus serotina<\/em>,\u00a0Typha latifolia<\/em>, and the list goes on. Here’s\u00a0a picture of the lighthouse at the tip of the neck.<\/p>\n The following morning we began at Sassafras Natural Resources Management Area, where we saw a bunch of\u00a0Viburnum dentatum,<\/em>\u00a0Pontederia cordata, Cornus amomum,<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Asclepias\u00a0<\/em>sp. (the flowers weren’t quite ready yet.<\/p>\n This isn’t a MD State Park, but we had time to stop off at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, where we saw a great population of\u00a0Typha angustifolia, Iva frutescens, Schoenoplectus americanus, Spartina patens, Distichlis spicata,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Juncus roemerianus<\/em>. Here is a photo of some\u00a0Amorpha fruticosa.<\/em><\/p>\n Our next stop was Tuckahoe State Park. We found our first great population of\u00a0Iris versicolor,\u00a0<\/em>as well as lots of\u00a0Saururus cernuus, Sambucus canadensis,<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Cephalanthus occidentalis.\u00a0<\/em>I took a photo of a plant I had never seen before,\u00a0Medeola virginiana<\/em>.<\/p>\n We then visited Rosaryville State Park, which unfortunately didn’t have anything for us, but it was nice to visit, since we pass it quite often during our travels.<\/p>\n Our last stop on day 3 was Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw some\u00a0Pinus virginiana<\/em>, and a nice wetland that will be a little difficult to access. Here is a photo of some\u00a0Juglans nigra\u00a0<\/em>I found there.<\/p>\n In the morning we headed off to Calvert Cliffs State Park, which was fantastic. There were incredible populations of\u00a0Gaylussacia frondosa, Kalmia latifolia,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Pinus virginiana<\/em>. I couldn’t help but photograph a caterpillar (maybe someone here knows what type) on some\u00a0Packera aurea<\/em>.<\/p>\n Next was Greenwell State Park, which didn’t have much in the way of natural areas, but had a well developed Equestrian area, pictured below.<\/p>\n We then visited St. Mary’s River State Park where we found our very first population of\u00a0Rubus hispidus<\/em>, as well as some\u00a0Dichanthelium scoparium\u00a0<\/em>and many species of\u00a0Eleocharis<\/em>. Here is the\u00a0Rubus\u00a0<\/em>I mentioned.<\/p>\n Following that we visited Point Lookout State Park, which looked very familiar to a lot of places we collected last year. There was\u00a0Solidago sempervirens, Spartina patens, Iva frutescens, Smilax rotundifolia,<\/em> and\u00a0Juncus roemerianus<\/em>, among other things. Here is a photo of some\u00a0Diospyros virginiana<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our last stop on day 4 was Smallwood State Park. We found lots of good stuff there, including\u00a0Saurus cernuus, Carex lurida, Alnus serrulata, Typha latifolia, <\/em>and Glyceria striata.\u00a0<\/em>Here is a photo of some\u00a0Salix nigra<\/em> in fruit!<\/p>\n Our first and last stop on day 5 was Chapman State Park. We saw pretty much the same flora\u00a0there as we found at Smallwood, since they are within 15 minutes of each other. I did, however, take a photo of\u00a0Liriodendron tulipifera<\/em>.<\/p>\n All in all, it was a very productive scouting trip, and we had a lot of fun botanizing and seeing the beauty of MD State Parks.<\/p>\n I look forward to a fruitful season with SOS once again. Until next time…<\/p>\n Jake Dakar, NC Botanical Garden, SOS East<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello again! Jake Dakar here. I was a Seeds of Success (East) intern last year based out of the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, NC, and I’m at it again this year in the same location. During the … Continue reading ![\"IMG_7412\"](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_7412.jpg\")
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